Tolerance
“IT is a foolish thing,” said I,“To bear with such, and pass it by;Yet so I do, I know not why!”
And at each clash I would surmiseThat if I had acted otherwiseI might have saved me many sighs.
But now the only happinessIn looking back that I possess—Whose lack would leave me comfortless—
Is to remember I refrainedFrom masteries I might have gained,And for my tolerance was disdained;
For see, a tomb. And if it wereI had bent and broke, I should not dareTo linger in the shadows there.
Words in this poem
- comfortless a.
- Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.
- tolerance n.
- The power or capacity of enduring; the act of enduring; endurance. [L. tolerantia: cf. F. tolérance.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tolerance is in the public domain. This text is taken from Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries, with Miscellaneous Pieces, Project Gutenberg ebook #2863; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, Tolerance, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/tolerance.html, id L24036.
Form and metre
Tolerance is 15 lines in 5 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AAA iA · byA · whyA
- 2 AAA surmiseA · otherwiseA · sighsA
- 3 AAA happinessA · possessA · comfortlessA
- 4 AAA refrainedA · gainedA · disdainedA
- 5 -AA were · dareA · thereA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “IT is a foolish thing,” said I, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| “To bear with such, and pass it by; | 8 | ········ |
| Yet so I do, I know not why!” | 8 | ········ |
| And at each clash I would surmise | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That if I had acted otherwise | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| I might have saved me many sighs. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But now the only happiness | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| In looking back that I possess— | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Whose lack would leave me comfortless— | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Is to remember I refrained | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| From masteries I might have gained, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And for my tolerance was disdained; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| For see, a tomb. And if it were | 8 | ········ |
| I had bent and broke, I should not dare | 9 | ········· |
| To linger in the shadows there. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.